


Love's strange (so real in the dark)

by Florchis



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, FWB to Triad, Foreplay, Friends With Benefits, Jealousy, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, MCU Kink Bingo, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Relationship Negotiation, Sex Interruptus, Triad - Freeform, Unrequested Dick Pic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-03 00:32:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15807675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florchis/pseuds/Florchis
Summary: Fitzsimmons have a casual friends-with-benefits thing going on with Daisy. Until they discover that she has other possible suitors and that their feelings about Daisy are definitely not casual at all.





	Love's strange (so real in the dark)

**Author's Note:**

> From a tumblr prompt: "a smutty fitzskimmons longish causal fling becomes something serious"

It was easy, while they could pretend.

It was easy, while they didn’t talk about it.

It was easy, while they didn’t have to think about it.

It was easy, until it stopped being easy.

* * *

It is not the first time they are doing this, and with any luck, it won’t be the last. There is something on the back of her head that tells Jemma that things cannot be this idyllic forever, but she is really good at pretending issues don’t exist when there is something else that can pull her focus. And right now, Fitz and Daisy making out half naked on the bed are a  _ really good  _ distraction. She sits down on a chair, unbuttoning her blouse and enjoying the view.

“I see you got started without me.”

She imagined that they hadn’t heard her opening the door, because they hadn’t greeted her, but she is still surprised when they startle and look around wildly. Bloody hell, they were really into it. She can feel herself getting wet at the idea.

“Jemma! Sorry, we wanted to wait for you but-”

“- we kind of got distracted.”

They look sheepish but not ashamed, and Daisy wakes up to help her unlace her boots. She sure is a sight to behold, there at her knees, and Jemma dismisses their apologies with a gesture of her hand.

“It’s my fault, I’m the one who got here late.”

She accepts the glass of white wine Fitz is offering her, and also his welcome kiss, although his chin is smeared with Daisy’s crimson lipstick.

“Is everything okay, love?” He is keeping his cool more than she thought he would, but his worried eyes are still scanning her face, looking for some signal of annoyance, and Jemma makes a point of schooling her features into the most neutral, non-assuming expression possible. 

“Yes, why wouldn’t it be?” She doesn’t wait for a reply but drags Daisy- who has finished taking off her boots- up to her knees for a kiss. She waits until both of them are surrounding her, touched and melted by her kisses, to continue. “I was just enjoying the show.”

Daisy and Fitz exchange a confused look and- fair is fair- Jemma can understand why; she is not exactly known for her willingness to take a passive role and let the rest have their fun without her. Sure that usually makes her an interesting sexual partner, but it also can be a little disorientating now that she is implying something else.

She shoos away Fitz’s hands that were starting to take off the blouse that Jemma unbuttoned but kept on and signals the bed with her chin.

“Do you think I could watch a little more?”

Daisy looks at her still from her knees, gaping, while Fitz wets his lips nervously.

“Are you, um, are you sure, um.” He clears his throat and tries again. “Is that what you want?”

She pops one stocking-clad foot on the armrest of her chair and enjoys the way Daisy’s mouth opens even further at the way her skirt rides up her legs. She strokes her hands down her chest, outlining the flat space between her breasts, and snickers at hearing Fitz’s sharp intake of breath.

“It looked like you were having fun. I don’t want you to stop for my sake.” She makes a pause, sideyes Fitz’s erection and Daisy’s hard nipples that peak through the red cups of her bra, let her hand wander lower, to the underside of her own breast. “Maybe I can have a little fun with your fun too if you want to show me how you were not-waiting for me.”

This arrangement of sorts, or whatever way it can be called, has always been about three of them having fun together, or that’s what they have said in the very few, very unclear times they have talked about it. They have never talked about the possibility of Daisy seeing either Fitz or Jemma without the other, the way Jemma has a preceding relationship with Fitz. Sure, sex is not always the reason why they get together, and when it’s not, they can break up into pairs without a second thought, like Fitz and Daisy hunting for a vintage video game or Jemma and Daisy attending pointless sewing classes together. Jemma and Fitz are a couple and Daisy is friends with both of them, and when they are all together, sometimes that friendship enters the “with benefits” area. Jemma is not naive enough to not realize that this relationship is hanging in a really precarious equilibrium, but she also isn’t brave enough to face what is really going on between them without a true catastrophe looming over her head.

Besides, if they are going to be fair, she has had some quality time with Daisy on the shower while Fitz was still out of it more than once before, so this really shouldn’t be that big a deal.

Daisy is the first one to react, shifting her body from Jemma to Fitz, and, with her hands behind his knees, places a soft kiss on the top of his thigh. Fitz groans, the barely-there contact sending shivers through his muscles, and his hands twitch at the side of his body. Jemma is about to tell him,  _ Touch her if you want, this is exactly why we have safe words in place and also we trust you, and we won’t break and- _

She is really glad she didn’t when Daisy does it in her own way, that is much more interesting. She rubs her nose against his other leg and then looks up at him from an angle that- if Jemma can say so herself- makes her look  _ sinful. _

“Touch me, Fitz, please.” Her voice is throaty and her eyes are shining, and Jemma cannot blame Fitz for gasping, because she is doing it herself at the image.

Instead of pulling her up into his arms and carry her to the bed to ravish her, Fitz does a, well, a very  _ Fitz  _ thing: he runs the tip of his fingers almost weightless from one of Daisy’s temple to the other, down her nose, across her cheek, her chin, her other cheek. Daisy has closed her eyes the moment he started, and by the time he hooks his thumb on her lower lip, Jemma is sure they are the literal representation of sensuality.

She waits a little impatiently for things to progress, but they look content with that for a while, Fitz outlining Daisy’s lips, Daisy squeezing his knees when he does something she particularly likes. Finally, but still in a very low process, his finger finds a route down, through the side of Daisy’s neck, collarbone, and shoulder, to push apart the strap of her bra. Jemma breathes sharply through her nose at the sight, and Daisy opens her eyes to look at her mischievously while Fitz, instead of pulling Daisy up, kneels too.

He doesn’t look at her while he circles Daisy’s back to unhook her bra and pushes the straps down so it comes off, but Jemma knows that he is fully conscious of her presence, and he is doing this, yes, because he wants and likes Daisy, but also because she is watching. It feels too hot in here, what with Daisy having her breasts exposed and Fitz, shirtless, kissing from the hollow of her throat down to her bellybutton. Jemma pushes her blouse off and one of the cups of her bra down, pinching her nipple to try to take the edge off. Daisy, watching her very intently, grabs Fitz’s head and leads him up, until he is kneeling with his torso upright, and she can stage-whisper on his ear.

“Come on, lover boy, let’s give your wife a real show.”

Fitz moans brokenly, and kisses her in lieu of replying, hot lips and exploring tongue, and watching them like that, Daisy’s hands splayed on Fitz’s back, Jemma curses under her breath and lowers the zipper of her skirt, wanting to get her hand inside her underwear.

And then Daisy’s phone rings. They all know it’s hers because of the  _ Livin’ la vida loca  _ ringtone, and they all cringe at the sound. They don’t have an explicit rule about it- the same way that they don’t have rules about anything they do here, which is a clear corollary of  _ not talking about it- _ , but they all turn off their phones before getting started on anything. Daisy forgetting about it is probably just another hint of how much they got carried away earlier; she can not really be blamed.

“Sorry. Sorry, I will-”

“Don’t.” Jemma stops her dashed movements with a hand gesture. “I will turn it off. I believe you had more pressing matters in your hands.” She looks pointedly at Daisy’s hands playing with the zipper of Fitz’s trousers, and that earns her a soft laugh.

“Yeah, cool. It’s in my jacket.”

“Got it.”

Jemma uses the excuse as an opportunity of sorts, too, because she sashays her hips on her way to the door, and when she looks at them over her shoulder, she sees that they have moved to the edge of the bed, and Daisy has scurried her hand inside Fitz’s jeans, while her husband looks at her with heavy-lidded eyes. Jemma pushes her skirt a little higher up her thighs to leave exposed the curve of her bum for good measure. She bows down without bending her knees and smiles at the whistle of appreciation from Daisy that gets her while she fishes for the phone. 

She straightens up once she has it, but doesn’t turn around while she unlocks the screen- for someone with the abilities of a hacker, Daisy is pretty careless about the secrecy of her personal data. Or maybe she is this careless only with them, and the idea warms up Jemma’s entire chest.

And then all those fuzzy feelings turn to ice in a microsecond.

She should have turned the phone off without unlocking it. She totally should have, but the movement was pretty automatic on her part- and, she will never admit it, but there was also a small part of being nosy.

But whatever the reason the facts are that she is holding the cell phone in her hand, and a new message comes in, and while Daisy and Fitz are fondling each other on the bed, there is a dreadful picture of a human, real-life penis blinking at her unashamedly form the screen, and Jemma winces in distaste.

There is a whirlwind of emotions in her gut- she feels confused, betrayed, hurt, disgusted (who in this time and age still sends dick pics, she can’t help but wonder). She is aware that she is not necessarily entitled to all those emotions, but she feels what she feels. 

“Whaddaya taking you so long?”

She was so shocked that she didn’t hear Daisy coming to her, and at hearing her voice over her shoulder, Jemma drops the phone and watches in horror as Daisy picks it up and turns it around, seeing in the process the picture of contention. 

Small things, at least the screen has not cracked.

Daisy looks down at the phone, and then up at Jemma’s face, and she can see the color draining from her face in real time.

“This is not what it looks-

“I have no right to-”

“-I swear this came out of nowhere-”

“- we have no right to meddle in your sex life-”

“What is going on?”

Fitz walks to them and takes the phone from Daisy- who is so focused on explanations that don’t even oppose resistance-, and blanches at seeing the picture.

“Well, that sure is untasteful.”

Jemma looks at him and sees in the tautness of his factions and the shaking of his voice that he is going through a reaction similar to hers, but he is baring it a lot better. His comment seems to snap Daisy out of her stupor, and after snatching her cell phone from his hand, she picks up her discarded clothes in thirty seconds, puts on her t-shirt and leaves hastily while Fitz and Simmons look at her back still in shock.

* * *

_ i’m sorry guys, i didnt mean for you to see that _

_ not to say that i was keeping it from you, just that….. yeah _

_ not in good taste _

_ im sorry it ruined our thing because i love our thing _

_ its nothing serious just a guy i met at a bar that went waaaay over his head _

_ just my luck that i get an unwanted dick pic when i was with you _

_ when i had all the people i want to see naked with me _

_ because you two are the only people i want to see naked _

_ fuck was that too much ? _

_ it was too much _

_ fuck _

_ its true though  _

_ im rambling i should stop talking _

_ texting* _

_ gonna stop for real now _

_ sorry _

* * *

They lay side by side on their bed, silent like they hadn’t been in a long time.

“We should reply to her. After all, nothing happened that entitled us to be mad.”

Jemma turns around to lay on her side, waits a bit for Fitz to change the topic or fall asleep, but he doesn’t, and after a while she sighs, resigned.

“Okay, imagine that we reply to her. What are we going to say? ‘It’s cool, we don’t care about your other sex partners, let’s bang it out xoxo’?” She sounds even angrier than what she was expecting, and she closes her eyes tight to not let the tears come out when she hears Fitz moving up to a seating position.

“Well, it would be fair, considering that she doesn’t mingle in  _ our  _ sex life.”

She turns around abruptly, pained and furious.

“How can you not care about her, Fitz?” The words burst out of her, uncontrolled, but she closes her mouth when she sees his face, serious but soft, and very, very earnest.

“First, I do care about her, and not wanting to know about her sex partners doesn’t invalidate that. Don’t make me the bad guy here.” He reaches with his arm, and Jemma scoots closer so he can tangle his fingers in her hair as a peace offering. “Besides, I didn’t say I do not care about that. I only was establishing what is fair. When we added sex to our friendship with her, we opened up our relationship to her. That she had to give up any other possible relationships was never on the agreement.”

Jemma rubs her face against his thigh, relishing on the smell of clean cotton to soothe herself down.

“Do you think I’m being irrational about this?” she murmurs softly and is very grateful when he doesn’t stop his gentle caressing because of her question.

“There is nothing rational about love, Jem.”

She feels his words dropping on her head like an anvil; it weights on her body for a moment and makes her hold her breath. Then, trying to reign in the panic, she lets them seep through her skin to find the core of her bones. Fitz holds her gently through the whole process, and finally, she breathes again.

“Do you think I’m in love with her?”

Fitz’s reply takes two slow heartbeats to come.

“I can only tell you that  _ I  _ am. My opinion about your feelings doesn’t matter, but if you want it, yeah. Yes, I think you are.”

She inhales, and lets the idea of Fitz being in love with someone else sit on her lungs. It doesn’t feel like choking, so that is a good starting point.

“How long have you know?”

“About me or about you?”

“Both.”

His thumb finds a place that is always sore behind her ear, and he starts rubbing it with enough pressure to loosen it, but not to make it hurt. Jemma closes her eyes and curls her fingers on the knee of his pajama pants.

“I have been, um, processing my own feelings for a while now. Been certain about them for at least a couple weeks.”

“Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

“The politically correct answer is that I didn’t want to influence your own opinion on the matter, and also that there was no need to make a fuss.” He makes a pause, and Jemma can imagine his face when he concentrates, brow furrowed and his tongue peeking from between his lips. “But the truth is… I was afraid. Afraid of what this could mean for us. Afraid of how you would react. Afraid of how she would react. Just… afraid all over.”

Jemma turns around then, to lay her head completely on his thigh and be able to look him in the eyes. He moves his thumb to stroke over her cheek, and though he is feigning coolness better than she expected, his hand is shaking. She takes it and moves it over her heart, pressing hard enough for him to feel her heartbeat.

“I love you, Fitz. I don’t think there is anything that can make that change. Definitely not this. I’m not sure how this works, loving two different people, but I guess we can figure it out. Together.” She waits a bit in case he wants to protest, but he just nods, his eyes bright from tears. “Like we always do.”

“I love you too.” He says, a little like it is an automatized response, and maybe that could make the statement less powerful, but instead it just makes it much more precious to her; to reaffirm that he loves her is always his first reply. “Wait. Are you okay with this?”

She shrugs the best way she can in a lying position.

“I’m not gonna lie to you, Fitz. This is… overwhelming, to put it lightly. I can not promise you that everything will work smoothly for us from now on. I only know that I love you, and clearly, I have deep feelings for Daisy too, if what I felt today at the perspective of her being with someone else is any indicator.” She moves to a sitting position, wanting to be closer to him, and drapes her legs across his lap, his arm searching instinctively her waist. “We already knew we loved her as a person and as a friend when this all started. Maybe we were already hiding our feelings by lusting after her then, or maybe knowing we can all have good sex, and even laugh during it, helped develop these feelings. Who knows. But the feelings are there, and I want her to be ours the same way I’m yours and you are mine. Lying to myself about it is just bad scientific method.”

Fitz groans and Jemma feels the vibrations reverberating through her body.

“I can’t believe you are using science for this, Simmons.”

“Science has never failed before,” she replies, taking advantage of his bowed head to tickle him on his collarbones. “Why wouldn’t I trust it for something as important as this?”

Fitz shakes her hand away and circles her waist with his other arm. This way they are pressed tightly together, their chests moving up and down in tandem and Fitz presses his forehead against hers.

“So are we going to tell her tomorrow?”

Jemma fishes her cell phone from under his pillow, and checks that even though it’s way past 1 am, there is still a green dot right next to Daisy’s name. If she knows her one bit, and she does, Daisy is still beating herself up over what happened that afternoon the same way Jemma was doing only ten minutes ago.   

“Why wait?”                                     

* * *

They don’t even get properly dressed before jumping in the car, and Jemma likes the spontaneity that makes this moment so authentic:  _ we couldn’t wait any longer to tell you, so here we are, pajamas and everything. _

They get weird glances from the doorman at Daisy’s building, but they open the principal door with their key- they have the keys to each other’s places, sure that could mean a great friendship, but also, how could they had been so blind?- and ride on the lift choosing to ignore him. They hold hands all the way up, and Jemma is too nervous to think about what they are going to say, she feels the impulse on her throat, and she wants to use it, no canned declarations, no proper requests, just them and their feelings.

They have the key to her flat too, but out of respect Fitz knocks using the rhythm that has been theirs for a long time. Daisy opens the door just a smidget, looking at them like she might be hallucinating. 

“Hey, there,” Fitz says in his most calming voice. “Can we come in?”

The door closes only to be opened fully immediately after. Daisy is wearing what they know to be her comfort pajamas, her hair on a messy bun, and she looks like she has been crying. Jemma’s heart clenches.

“What are you doing here?” is her greeting while she moves away to let them in. She shakes her head in confusion upon seeing them up close. “Are you in your pajamas?”

Fitz closes the door gently, and they look a little ridiculous, all of them in their pajamas standing awkwardly near the door. 

“Yes.” She thinks about making a joke about being here for a slumber party, but she keeps it to herself and decides to go for the blunt honesty instead. “We couldn’t wait to come here.”

Daisy pulls a pained face, and Jemma frowns, confused.

“Look, guys, I get it. I’m really really sorry I ruined everything, but I think there was no need to be in such a rush to dump me, you know?” She is trying really hard to sound jovial and careless, but her attempt comes out strained.

Jemma tilts her head.

“Wait, you think we are… breaking up with you?”

Daisy takes a step back in a clearly defensive posture, and Jemma exchanges a quick glance with Fitz.

“Well, yeah.” He feeble facade is rapidly crumbling, and Jemma aches to hold her. “Unless you don’t even think of this as deserving of a term such as breaking up, which, well, uh, I would understand.”

“Daisy. Come here.” There is a tender quality to Fitz’s voice that makes it easy to follow his commands, Jemma knows. She is glad it also works on Daisy when she takes a trembling step towards them. Fitz meets her halfway, and surrounds her with his arms, kissing her on the forehead while Jemma watches, frozen on her place. Daisy is full on crying now, and he rocks her, trying to calm her down. How is he so good at this? “Sweetheart, we are not breaking up with you.”

They both freeze at hearing him using the pet name, and he quickly raises his head, searching her eyes. Jemma gives him a tiny nod of approval. 

“You are not?” Daisy is clinging to Fitz’s back like a lifeline and looking for honesty in his eyes. Fitz lets her look to her heart’s content, his face as open as possible, and Jemma realizes it’s probably her turn to intervene.

“No.” She takes a step towards them and holds Daisy’s hand that has not found her way to Fitz’s neck. “In fact, we came here to tell you that we are done with this being casual if it ever was truly casual at all.” She squeezes Daisy’s hand and smiles, feeling a little more comfortable on her footing now that the truth is out in the open. “That is, if you will have us.”

“I do.”

Jemma exhales soundly at hearing Daisy’s immediate reply, and Fitz grins at both of them.             

“Fair warning, though: she is a blanket hoarder. She also says that I snore, but that is a malign lie that I won’t tolerate about my person.”

Daisy laughs and draws her closer by her hand, and Jemma’s smile only grows bigger. God, she loves them so much.

“I can work with that.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the "Dick Pic" square in my [ MCU Kink Bingo Card.](http://florchis.tumblr.com/post/175123302736/mcu-kink-bingo-card-2018) I'm accepting prompts for it and for [ my MCU Bingo Card](http://florchis.tumblr.com/post/174965037436/this-is-the-temporary-masterpost-i-will-be-using) too. 
> 
> If you want, you can look for some inspiration in my [Visual Prompts List](http://florchis.tumblr.com/post/174316812926/visual-promptswriting-references) (warnings for NSFW descriptions and links that take to NSFW pictures).  
> **  
> This story is part of LLF Comment Project, whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Prompts
>   * Image reactions
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> This author replies to comments (but it might take a while). If you'd rather not get a reply, please add *whispers* to your comment.



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